The Soundstage Head Club

This thread is for all the soundstage whores like myself

If you are always searching for the best soundstage this is for you.

I thought we could list the best gear with the best soundstage performance, whether it be headphones (closed or open), IEMS, amps, DACs, etc. Doesn't have to be flagship stuff. You can list things that have a good soundstage for their price bracket.

This is a placeholder post/work in progress. If you want me to add/remove anything let me know :) I will update it as it goes.

Now this is a club that I know I feel right at home in, for once. I just love a good atmospheric presentation.

The headphones list needs more Stax, though. Soundstage is a very strong suit of the Lambda series, and if you prefer it more in front like the K1000, there's the Sigma series. (All of them are open, of course; in fact, I can't think of a single closed model aside from the Stax 4070.)

Now this is a club that I know I feel right at home in, for once. I just love a good atmospheric presentation.

The headphones list needs more Stax, though. Soundstage is a very strong suit of the Lambda series, and if you prefer it more in front like the K1000, there's the Sigma series. (All of them are open, of course; in fact, I can't think of a single closed model aside from the Stax 4070.)

Fischer Audio FA-011! THE best and widest soundstage under $200 that I've heard, and I couldnt really even imagine a headphone creating a larger headspace (since it seems to transcend past the 180 play field and almost surround the head with sexy noises xD

Whats even more amazing, is that is has a fantastic bass response for an open phone, tight and punchy, but also wielding plenty of sub-bass to cure any bass cravings. The highs are airy and beautiful as well :D

Fischer Audio FA-011! THE best and widest soundstage under $200 that I've heard, and I couldnt really even imagine a headphone creating a larger headspace (since it seems to transcend past the 180 play field and almost surround the head with sexy noises xD

Whats even more amazing, is that is has a fantastic bass response for an open phone, tight and punchy, but also wielding plenty of sub-bass to cure any bass cravings. The highs are airy and beautiful as well :D

If they had a shop around here, I'd purchase their whole line.

I saw your posts on those, you make me want to buy some :) I put them on the list.

Do you still stand by what you said in this post about using them with dolby headphone?

I saw your posts on those, you make me want to buy some :) I put them on the list.

Do you still stand by what you said in this post about using them with dolby headphone?

yes, or atleast for the ax720 dolby headphone decoder box.

I don't know why, but it just doesn't sound right for some reason.

They sound really good right out of a PC jack for PC games tho, just not for xbox 360 (not sure why)

I still use the AX720's for xbox gaming and those do everything perfectly for my needs, but the FA-011 does everything else perfectly, and sounds FAR better for music, which is primarily what I use them for

I think its because of the decoder box that hinders the performance of them, not the headphone :D

The only ones I've tried directly are the original Normal bias SR-Lambda (albeit modified) and the SR-202, but all Lambda-series models likely provide an equally large soundstage, possibly even larger than the AD700 (going by experience with both), with the main differences being in sound signature.

More experienced listeners here say the soundstage isn't HD800 large, but certainly not small by headphone standards, either. Others say that the SR-007 is a tad smaller than a typical Lambda, and the SR-009 is a tad larger; don't know about the SR-Omega or other models like SR-X/Mk3, SR-5, or SR-3.

Even before the SR-Lambda, there was the SR-Sigma, which instead had the drivers mounted perpendicular to the listener's ears, sort of like the AKG K1000. It looks rather ridiculous with the listener's head being flanked by big boxes like that, but the sound must be truly amazing for it to have the reputation it does.